Things to See and Do

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after Los Angeles and New York City. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.

Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is a major, alpha+ global city, ranking seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index, and retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008, the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, the Chicago area has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

Metra - Chicago's public transportation system.

For those of you who are staying at the hotel but want to visit the city and either don't have the availability of a car or would rather not drive downtown and park, you can take Chicago's Metra system. You can catch the train a short ways from the hotel and ride it to the downtown area. Here's a link to their website. http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home.html